Cross-Cutting Improvements: Open Science to Improve the Publish-Review-Curate-Assessment Workflow

This proposal is submitted to the FAIROS Cross-Cutting Improvements Track through CISE/OAC. Overview Open Science requires building a Publish-Review-Curate-Assessment workflow within integrated systems. PUBLISH: By establishing community-based platforms for hosting and disseminating scientific research, we can eliminate the restrictions imposed by proprietary systems in the form of page charges, publishing fees, and subscription costs. This enables new work to be made public immediately via preprint servers or disciplinary repositories, moving the endorsement phase of the communication process to post-publication. REVIEW: By transforming review from a process that is publisher-controlled to one designed and overseen by the research community, review processes can become part of the larger scientific conversation, allowing reviewers to be credited with their insights and researchers to participate in the engagement with their work. CURATE: By leveraging a multi-institutional, open-source publishing platform, we can aggregate information to measure the impact of current research, returning control of analytics to research institutions. ASSESS: Full attention to impact requires better analytics for research assessment made more openly available. By leveraging a multi-institutional, open-source publishing platform, we can aggregate information to measure the impact of current research, returning control of analytics to research institutions. Intellectual Merit We propose a capability-building extension of Knowledge Commons (KC, an interdisciplinary, open-access network) and KC Works (a top-of-class research data management platform) to provide advanced cyberinfrastructure capable of facilitating Open Science to Improve the Publish-Review-Curate-Assessment Workflow. KC and KCWorks are open-source, open-access, academy-governed, interoperable infrastructures supporting shared communication protocols and common data standards while enabling local communities to shape the structure and uses of their own network, encouraging both local self-determination and national (or international) connection. We will leverage the COAR Notify protocol to enable communication between KC, KC Works, open publishing platforms, open review communities, and collaborative review tools. We will also develop user-facing and institution-facing dashboards that aggregate analytics regarding the impact of research in KC Works and will work with research communities to develop and integrate means of assessing research impact in values-enacted ways that do not rely on artificial hierarchies of excellence that are generated in the current close-publishing system. Broader Impacts A Publish-Review-Curate-Assessment workflow builds connections between systems that are typically stand-alone: pre-print servers or repositories for open sharing (Publish); journal submission systems for peer review (Review); journal issues or collections where multiple works are organized (Curate); and analytic systems for evaluating the impact of work (Assessment). While pre-print servers and repositories are typically free to use, some journal submission, most journal publication and access, and most analytic systems are costly. This work will open the publishing landscape by removing financial barriers to participation for authors and readers. Every technology advance discussed here will benefit the entirety of KC's multi-disciplinary network. All scholars and disciplines will be able to learn from and make use of the innovations made in KC and beyond the borders of a single institution, region, or country. In addition to these technological impacts, building community in the context of test cases provides for deep transparency in research and the opportunity for disciplines to adopt new practices from other spaces. Embedding FAIR, CARE, and TRUST principles in KC will provide broader access to research and broader participation in research communities than is possible currently. Finally, recognition that modification of publishing norms and analytics requires adjustment in impact assessment approaches as planned for here. The proposed effort inherently encourages cross, inter, and transdisciplinary innovation through engaging perspectives from many disciplines and sharing those perspectives out to the wider community.